Customer Experience
Increased Demand for Premium Private Label Products
A new study has found that private label brands have gone from having lukewarm demand to significantly increased popularity. “According to the study, consumers want more premium and organic products from their favorite private label brands. Developing more of these offerings is also beneficial to retailers because they generate more revenue. In fact, premium private label sales accounted for nearly one-third of dollar volume and drove 8 percent of growth in the segment in 2017.”
GNC Personalizes Receipts to Drive Post-Sale Engagement
GNC is now “working with FlexEngage, a personalized receipt and confirmation solution provider, to ensure that every e-receipt includes relevant, easily accessible information. GNC sends more than 8 million digital receipts annually, and the average customer checks their emailed receipts twice, helping these messages break through filters and reach customers’ eyes.” Engaging at each touchpoint is always a good strategy, and this is an example of turning something mundane into an opportunity.
Kiehl’s Rewards Purchases, Engagement
The Canadian cosmetics retailer has launched a loyalty program that rewards customers for more than just purchases. “After performing a deep analysis of Kiehl’s existing technologies and systems, OSF developed and implemented a customer rewards program that included integration of the Merkle LoyaltyPlus lifecycle marketing suite. The Merkle platform helps Kiehl’s track customer behavior, retrieve purchase history, and segment the customer database in order to enhance and personalize all consumer interactions.”
Online Ordering and the Grocery Wars
Amazon and traditional groceries are at war for consumers, but online ordering is still fairly rare when it comes to groceries. However, experts expect that number to increase, but it’s too early to tell if Amazon will be at the lead of this development. “The nature of customer loyalty is changing as shoppers get more comfortable buying groceries online—prioritizing convenience, choice, and ease over physical proximity to a store. As consumers become more sophisticated, retailers need to inspire lasting loyalty across their customer base. To do it, they should offer flexibility, proactively communicate about order status and other details, and build emotional connections with shoppers.”
Programs
Guidelines to Customer Loyalty Programs
Ashish Merchant offers some basic suggestions for customer loyalty strategy and nicely sums up a well-rounded approach to loyalty. One highlight: “Understanding is at Multiple Levels – Profile, Past Behavior and Needs (overt or covert) – Profile is typically captured during enrollment. Past behavior is typically captured when the customer uses the card regularly with transactions. And needs are better understood by customer responses to either offers, promotions, surveys or product variants.”